Time of Dying
by Doctor Yami
Summary: If you haven’t read chapter 437, don’t bother reading this fic. NaruHina. Tragic. Song fic, Three Days Grace, Time of Dying. Rated T.


**Author's Note**: Well, here it is. One of many fics that have sprouted up this dark day. I don't feel I got the ending quite right, but it'll do. It should be noted that I will cease to read the manga if Hinata really IS dead. If you haven't read chapter 437, don't bother reading this fic. Song fic, Three Days Grace, Time of Dying.

Hinata sat on a piece of rubble, ignoring her injuries, intent of the fight between Naruto and Pein. Oh, how badly she wanted to help him… but Ko was right. She would only be a burden. Tears glistened in her eyes. '_Naruto-kun…_'

On the ground I lay, Motionless in pain

Ko sat across from her, nursing his broken leg, sighing. He could tell how dearly Hinata-sama wanted to help… But his duty was to protect her. And at the level Naruto and Pein were fighting, she would be a hindrance more than anything else.

I can see my life Flashing before my eyes

As she watched, she remembered. All the time she spent watching him, following him… Always cursing herself for her shyness. And now… now, she may never get the chance to tell him. Say to him how much he means to her. How much she cares for him.

_Did I fall asleep?_

Ko saw Hinata suddenly stiffen, letting out a gasp. He quickly activated his byakugan, and cursed at what he saw.

_Is this all a dream?_

The final Pein had regained his abilities, and Naruto was losing… badly. Even as she watched, he set about pinning Naruto to the crater floor with his chakra blades.

_Wake me up, I'm living a nightmare_

'_No… This can't be happening… It just can't be…'_

'_I… I won't let this happen!'_

_I will not die_

"Hinata-sama!" Ko staggered upwards, trying desperately to stop her, but his leg immediately gave out on him. He could only watch, cursing himself, as she ran off to what he knew would be her death.

_I will survive_

Pein had his hand raised, ready to do who knows what to Naruto.

'_You will not touch Naruto-kun!'_

_I will not die_

Pein jumped to his left, just barely dodging the chakra blade emitting from her palm as she flew past him, landing and pivoting on her heel turning to face him.

"I won't let you lay another finger on Naruto-kun!"

_I'll wait here for you_

Naruto spoke. "What are you doing!? Get out of here! You're no match for him!"

She spoke, her voice soft, but resolute. "I know…"

Naruto stopped, staring in shock at her back.

_I feel alive_

She continued speaking. "I'm… Just being selfish…"

Naruto regained his voice. "What're you talking about!? Get out of here already! It's dangerous!"

She was silent for a moment. Then… "I'm here of my own free will."

Naruto fell silent.

_When you're beside me_

"I used to always cry and give up… I nearly went the wrong way… but you… you showed me the right way…"

Naruto stared, uncomprehending.

_I will not die_

"I was always chasing you… wanting to overtake you… I just wanted to walk with you… I wanted to be with you."

_I'll wait here for you_

"You changed me! Your smile saved me! So I'm not afraid to die protecting you!"

He couldn't understand. Softly, almost imperceptibly, he asked.

"Why?"

_In my time of dying_

She smiled sadly, slowly sliding into the Jyuken stance, facing Pein, knowing this may very well be the last thing she ever said to Naruto, her Naruto…

"Because… I love you."

Shock radiated from every fiber of his being.

_On this bed I lay_

Time slowed down. His heart seemed to stop beating. His next breath wouldn't come. He couldn't even feel the chakra blades piercing him anymore. She loved him. She loved _him._

_Losing everything_

It all made sense to him now. The blushing, the stuttering, the fainting, all the kind things she ever said to him. How she cheered him up before the Chunin Exam Finals, how she offered him the ointment during the preliminaries. She loved him.

_I can see my life Passing me by_

After what felt like an eternity, he came to himself, horror spreading through him.. She loved him, and she was going to die. She was going to **die.**

_Was it all too much?_

She was running, moving gracefully, chakra spreading from her palms in the shape of lions. Yet, he heard nothing, like all the sound in the world died before entering his ears.

_Or just not enough_

He saw Pein motion with his hand, and she was sent slamming back, hitting the ground far too hard, far too hard, slabs of it coming up. Pein was standing over her, his cold, cold eyes staring pitilessly down at her. He had a blade in his hand. Naruto thought he yelled something.

"**No!**"

Pein stared coldly at him.

_Wake me up, I'm living a nightmare_

The silence was pierced. The soft, sinuous sound of a blade piercing flesh. The clank as it hit rock below. Horror, such awful horror, struck him. He was vaguely aware of Pein speaking. She was dead.

_I will not die_

The ground shook. His whiskers deepened, darkened, became more pronounced. Red filtered into his vision. Canines elongated, reaching past his lips. His eyes become a slitted pupil surrounded by bloody crimson. And still only one though struck his mind.

She was dead.

His whole world went red.

_I will survive_

"Aaaaaa**AAAAAAAHHHH!!!**"

Chakra exploded from him, incinerating the blades pinning him, forming a crater within the crater. Six, bloody, crimson tails formed.

She was _dead_.

_I will not die_

Chakra began condensing, solidifying, whitening. Then, there he stood. He crouched, clutching the ground with all fours, and white, fox-like skeletal structure forming around his already dense fox shroud.

She was **dead.**

_I'll wait here for you_

The thing in front of him was making sounds. It stared impassively, thinking him no threat. This angered him.

_I feel alive_

He could not think. He could not feel. Only the barest, most instinctual thought coursed through his mind.

_When you're beside me_

The thing in front of him had hurt him.

The thing had to be _**destroyed.**_

_I will not die_

Pein had barely a second to react. One minute, the miniature Kyuubi was in the middle of the crater. The next, it was in front of him, jaws open in a bestial roar, the skull a perverse mimicry of his movements, a single claw raised to strike.

He sent out a barrage of Shinra Tensei.

_I'll wait here for you_

The beast roared, feeling the wave strike it. But it did not halt in its attacked. For only the barest of seconds, the chakra shroud was pushed back, momentarily allowing a glimpse of a red-eyed man, covered in tattered ragged, fangs exposed, claws sharp, the skeleton of a fox around him.

_In my time of dying_

And then, the shroud was back, and he struck, cleaving Pein in two, incinerating the corpse before it could even register it was dead, sending out a shockwave that passed clear through to the other side of the crater, cleaving a scar into the wall.

_I will not die (Feel alive)_

Nagato gasped. He shivered convulsively, before releasing a wracking cough, causing

Konan to look at him in his chakra transmitter with concern.

"What is it, Nagato?"

_I'll wait here for you_

He turned and looked at her, and she was shocked, for his eyes no longer had the blank, emotionless stare of the Rinnegan. No, there was stark terror in his soft brown eyes.

_I feel alive_

He croaked. "Konan… We have to get out of here… Hurry!"

She hesitated, wondering what could cause him such fear. She had felt the youkai, but… He was Pein. He was God. Surely the Deva realm had not been defeated already?

_When you're beside me (Feel alive)_

He coughed again, his emancipated body shaking. "Hurry, Konan… the jinchurikki is too powerful… Hu-!"

He stopped, staring at Konoha in the distance. She turned.

_I will not die_

A chakra claw, red as blood, burning like the fires of hell, slammed down onto them, stretching all the way from Konoha, miles away.

At this distance, the chakra was not as dense. Nagato had a brief instant to realize he was dying.

"How…" He whispered. "I am a God… How!?"

A God died.

_I'll wait here for you (Feel alive)_

He stumbled. He didn't know how he did it… but… he managed to push Kyuubi back. He clutched his head and winced, hearing the Kyuubi roar in outraged. Slowly, he turned and staggered, heading for a small, dark shape.

_In my time of dying_

They came slowly at first. None of the Konoha nin could quite believe he had so successfully repressed the Kyuubi. Two Konoha nin stopped at the edge of the crater.

Suddenly, they were bowled over by a hazel-eyed blonde. "Out of my way!"

Tsunade was afraid. She knew what her little brother had been through. If she could get to Hinata in time, she could at least save her little brother from this much…

She stopped at the edge of the hole, took everything in at a glance, and hung her head, tears welling in her eyes.

He sat there, Hinata's head pulled into his lap, uselessly stroking her hair, sobbing bitterly as tears coursed down his cheeks.

His childhood, his sensei, his brother… and now… the girl who loved him.

In Konohagakure no Sato, Uzumaki Naruto had truly lost everything.

**End Note: **Like I said, don't think I quite got the ending right. I'm thinking this particular section, once it hits anime, will make a better AMV than song fic.

Reviews appreciated.


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